More saw Athens than Sydney

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The 2004 Games may have set an unofficial Olympic record for empty seats but vacancies have been less glaring in the world's lounge rooms.

The Games' global television audiences, eagerly tracked by the International Olympic Committee, broadcasters and advertisers, are still being tallied. But early snapshots suggest that viewership of the Athens Olympics will stack up favourably against that of the Sydney Games in 2000.

Variations in national viewing preferences, different ways of allocating broadcast rights, a lack of standardisation in audiences measurement and the distorting effects of the seven time zones between Athens and Sydney complicate any direct comparisons between 2004 and 2000. The same is true of viewer comparisons between countries.

Still, in several big European and North American markets, Athens appeared to be running ahead of Sydney as the Games drew to the finish.

Any increase in ratings will probably be most pronounced in Europe, where audiences tend to prefer live broadcasts rather than the packaged highlights as shown during prime time on NBC in the US. The one-hour time difference between Athens and much of Western Europe means most events have been shown live during the day or in the early evening, while much of the live programming from Sydney occurred during the wee hours of the European morning.

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In Germany, average TV ratings for the first week of the Athens Olympics were nearly double that of the comparable period during the Sydney Games, according to Initiative, a media strategy firm. British ratings were up more than 50 per cent.

The BBC, which had broadcast rights to the Athens Games in Britain, achieved an average rating of 4.6 the first seven days, up from 3.0 for the Sydney Games, according to Initiative. That means 4.6 per cent of the population, on average, was watching the Olympics at any point during the 98 hours of Games-related programming on the BBC in the seven days.

At riveting moments, like the British runner Paula Radcliffe's withdrawal from the marathon after about 35 kilometres, audiences shot upward; still, the 10.7 million Britons who watched pales in comparison with, say, the 24.7 million who watched England lose to Portugal on penalty kicks during the Euro 2004 soccer tournament.

In Germany, too, the Olympics have lacked the concentrated appeal of a major international soccer competition but the cumulative audiences are significant. The average rating for the 111 hours of programming on the ARD and ZDF networks during the first week was 4.8 per cent, according to Initiative, up from 2.6 per cent for the Sydney Games.

In the US, NBC, which paid $US793 million ($1.13 billion) for the broadcast rights to the Athens Games, has recorded relatively strong ratings this time.

Through the first 11 days, it achieved an average 15.8 rating for its prime-time packages of the day's main events, according to Nielsen Media Research - meaning that 15.8 per cent of American households, on average, were tuned in. That compares with 14.5 for the Sydney Games, though the Barcelona Games in 1992 achieved a 17.5 average rating.

Sydney is 14 hours ahead of the American east coast, while Athens is seven hours ahead.